A few days ago, I had the opportunity to observe the interactions of a family having a meal in a local restaurant. At first glance, nothing seemed different from what has unfortunately become the norm: Parents, preoccupied with last minute details regarding work and frantically attempting to respond to all unanswered emails; children, entertaining themselves with their favorite games until a boring meal was over. I gradually realized that I was looking at an obvious and profound aloneness while in the presence of family. This scene stood in stark contrast to God’s original design for family gatherings: Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength, And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 NLT).
Expressing His Life
The individual aloneness and lost opportunity for meaningful dialogue and growth depicted by the family in the restaurant serve as a microcosm of the growing disconnect in our society as a whole. Even secular researchers are pointing out that the exponential dependence upon technology as a means of communication threatens to negatively rewire the brains of future generations. Furthermore, the widespread fascination and acceptance of artificial intelligence — and the willingness to embrace it as a cure-all — are causing many leaders in the field to caution that we may prematurely be opening a Pandora’s box of unknown and unproven difficulties that we are ill-prepared to deal with. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father has not been caught off guard. The specific instructions given to ancient Israel are clarified and expanded in the New Testament.
A precursor of God’s intent can be seen in the first two chapters of the Bible. At each stage of creation, He evaluated His handiwork and pronounced that it was good; however, after the creation of Adam, He made a startling revelation: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him” (Genesis 2:18 NLT). Throughout the biblical record, this statement is understood — and correctly so — to refer to the relationship between a man and woman in marriage. In the writings of Paul, the Holy Spirit reveals the relationship between Christ and His bride. The opportunity to care for and help one another rises to a level which can only be understood through the lens of biblical revelation, … our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you. “In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary… If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12:18-22, 26-27 NLT). It is not far-fetched for us to believe that, as Christ-followers, we have been designed for such a relationship; and that our needs for belonging, safety, significance, and purpose are met as we are delivered from the pervasive loneliness in our society.
Achieving Balance
Throughout recorded history, everything that has been discovered was already known by God. Therefore, it is nonproductive to waste time longing for a return to the simplicity of yesteryear. Properly utilized, advances in technology provide marvelous opportunities to achieve the very design for humankind outlined in the first two chapters of the Bible, specified in Deuteronomy 6, and wonderfully revealed in 1 Corinthians 12. Therefore, our quest for balance must begin by heeding and putting into effect the job description given to Adam and Eve: Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground” (Genesis 1:28 NLT).
Before Linda’s death, we had for many years recognized our position of authority in Christ and properly controlled all of our technology. After her death, in my aloneness, I eased up on control and found myself constantly searching for news on my iPhone — nothing bad, just a wasteland of negativity, talking heads, and second-class journalism. Thanks to the little family in the restaurant, balance has been restored!
Ron Harvard Ministries 